Man charged with inciting hatred in posts

GRANBY, Que. — A 38-year-old man appeared in court Tuesday on charges of inciting hatred and advocating genocide in connection with racist and homophobic posts on a socialmedia account.

A judge ordered that Valentin Auclair, of Granby, Que., be sent for a psychiatric evaluation to determine his fitness to stand trial. He is due back in court on Monday. Auclair faces two charges of inciting hatred against an identifiable group and one charge of advocating genocide. The charges relate to communications between July 30 and Aug. 10 and between Nov. 4 and Jan. 5.

Granby police spokeswoman Caroline Garand said police began an investigation after receiving a complaint Sunday from a Montreal resident about a local man’s posts on VK, a Russian social media site.

A junior college philosophy professor who has written about the far right was the first to expose the posts, writing about them on his blog Sunday. On Monday, an article appeared in newspaper La Voix de l’Est.

The suspect was arrested that evening at his home, about 85 kilometres southeast of Montreal.